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Examination of Language This course has been my first real introduction to linguistics I have been exposed to many new ideas and concepts I now realize that there are many important factors concerning language that I was completely ignorant of With my new found knowledge I have begun to notice the way people talk This paper then will be my observations of my son and his particular form of communication My son Michael is a three and a half years old He is learning English mostly from his mother and me What I have found most striking is how he learns and incorporates new vocabulary His syntax is imperfect but he can quickly identify the meaning of what we are saying One of the most notable examples of this is in regard to humor The following are exerts from a conversation I had with him They are not used in order but to develop an understanding of his communication skills I gots it This is one of his favorite expressions Here he uses a possessive past tense form of get in order to express possession He also uses got in the present tense Hayezee got it Hayes is a cat This use of the past tense get is used to express current possession In other words the cat currently has it It seems that the word get to him only exists as a verb Once you get it you got it so to speak I attribute this mostly to a lack of vocabulary and unfamiliarity with other more appropriate words The word has would function very well and provide a more normal sentence What I did find interesting is that he almost always managed the proper tense of a word There were many references were gots should have been have or got should have been has but he did use his own words consistently This would appear to mean that he understands present

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